When compared with last year the Sri Lanka had witnessed a drastic increase in the illegal production of liquor in the Financial Year 2017/2018, the latest annual review of the country’s largest manufacturer of liquor Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka (DCSL) Chairman and Managing Director Harry Jayawardena points out.

“We have also observed that a large amount of spirit is being smuggled into the country passing through the customs without payment of taxes by classifying the product as paint removers, thinner and spirit for eau de cologne etc, depriving the State by billions of Rupees” Jayawardena stresses in his annual review. 

“Such acts are carried out by powerful people belonging to political groups (and this is well known in the market) with the connivance of the enforcement authorities who turn a blind eye and deaf ear” he further notes.

According to him unique and traditional Sri Lankan toddy industry which has been passed down from generation to generation over the centuries is gradually becoming an endangered industry. 

“This sorry state of affairs is the direct result of the rapid increase of illegal and artificial toddy manufacturers, who aid and abate the moonshine business by producing cheap artificial toddy, unfit for human consumption” Jayawardena stresses in his review adding that as a result, traditional toddy suppliers, who are unable to compete with such low-cost artificial toddy, are finding that their rich legacy is becoming unsustainable.

During the year under review for the Financial Year 2017/2018 DCSL turnover recorded to be Rs. 90 billion, while the Profit after Tax for the year was Rs. 4.35 billion. During the year the company had paid Rs. 64 billion in taxes for the Government of Sri Lanka.

- Reporting by Devendra Francis